The present invention relates generally to tools utilized in conjunction with refrigeration systems and, in an embodiment described herein, more particularly provides a refrigerant charging tool.
It is common practice to introduce fluid into a refrigeration system, such as an automotive air conditioning system, from a container in which the fluid is commercially packaged. For example, relatively small quantities of refrigerants such as R-12 and R-134a are typically packaged in generally cylindrical cans. A special purpose tool is commonly utilized to dispense the refrigerant and/or other fluid (e.g., lubricant, leak detector, seal rejuvenator, etc.) into the refrigerant system.
Many forms of these tools have been promulgated in the past, each of which typically includes a means for securing the container, a means for piercing the container, a means for sealing the pierced container, and a means for delivering the fluid from the pierced container to the refrigeration system. In one such tool, the container is secured by encircling the container within a flexible ring portion extendably attaching two handles to each other. A hollow piercing needle projects inwardly from the ring opposite a portion of the tool where the handles are squeezed together. When the handles are squeezed together, the circumference of the ring decreases, thereby forcing the container against the needle, and eventually causing the needle to puncture the container. If the container is substantially smaller than the ring (i.e., if the ring is sized for a larger container, such as a refrigerant can, as opposed to a smaller container, such as a typical oil charge can), a spacer must be utilized in the area between the container and the portion of the tool where the handles are squeezed together.
Unfortunately, such tools require a relatively large force to squeeze the handles together, due to the fact that the container presses against the portion of the tool where the handles are squeezed together, at the same time as the handles are being squeezed together. Additionally, where the spacer is utilized, the spacer must be positioned adjacent the portion of the tool where the handles are squeezed together, which positioning is relatively difficult to accomplish, and difficult to maintain while the handles are being squeezed together. Furthermore, the placement of the needle on the ring opposite the portion of the tool where the handles are squeezed together prevents convenient use of a hinged pivotable attachment between the handles at that position. Still further, such tools do not have interchangeable spacers to accommodate differently shaped containers of refrigerant or other fluids, for example, standard sized cans of R-12 and R-134a refrigerant and oil charge cans.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that it would be quite desirable to provide a tool which does not require the container to press against a portion of the tool being squeezed together, and which does not require, for smaller containers, that a spacer be positioned at the portion of the tool being squeezed together, but which permits enhanced convenience in utilization of the tool, and which includes spacers configured to accommodate differently shaped containers. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide such a tool.